Hi Bob Mc,
Without seeing your clip or having a full impression of what your end game is my answer would be a conservative yes.
Using a custom mask would localise the display of the effect.
For example place in Track 1 and 2 the same video clip.
Select Pip Designer, 3rd tab, a mask and apply it to Track 2's clip
Select Wind effect and apply to Track 2' clip.
The displayed mask area will show the Wind effect.
Therefore in theory the Wind effect can be applied to a specific area of a clip - note "area of a clip".
1. You'll need to create a suitable mask effect - easy to do. PD10 tutorial (one of the 3 "missing tutorials", How to create 3D video effects, will be uploaded soon) covers custom masks.
2. Use Motion Paths, tab2 in PiP designer to localise the Mask over the player. Take a look at a video I uploaded - should help you with positional settings and keyframes.
http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/19405.page#104015
Hope this helps, let me know.
Dafydd